Sword Art Online: Dreaming Blade
by VirtueLent
Summary: Syandara, a 'weak' beta-tester logs onto SAO, the first VRMMORPG and finds himself trapped in the world of Aincrad, but unlike his real world counterpart, he'll clear this game. Without hesitation. Please Read and Review and Follow&Favorite if you enjoy this story. Pairings are KiritoxAsuna and maybe a OCXOC.
1. Prologue

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**VR-1-SAO - Prologue**

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><p>In a small enclosed area called a 'room' located in a Tokyo apartment. A teenage boy woke up in the middle of the night, to be greeted with a newspaper notifying him that the first VRMMORPG 'Sword Art Online' would be released in one hour. Being a lucky beta tester, albeit not a great one, he already had access to the game, so there was no need to rush to get the game from the place selling the game. He quickly made a small breakfast, ate it, and by the time he finished eating, fifty minutes passed. Rushing to get into the VRMMORPG, he grabbed the helmet titled 'NerveGear' and placed it upon his head, pulled down the visor, closed his eyes and muttered two words.<p>

"Link Start."

When he allowed himself to open his eyes again, he was told his beta account and current account were now synced and after that, five words appeared on the screen notifying him that he was indeed inside a virtual world now.

_**Welcome to Sword Art Online!**_

As soon as the white light faded away from his vision he look up into the sky and blinked a few times. He looked to his left and saw his basic starter health along with his IGN taken from the beta test, 'Syandana'. He looked around and saw only seven other players. Probably because the other players lucky enough to get the game were still making their accounts. Syandana lifted up his left arm and moved it downwards and a status window with his information and current Sword Skills available to him. Some of the Sword Skills he saw included 'Slant', 'Vertical', 'Horizontal', and 'Uppercut'. Knowing that getting a head start in levels compared to other players was very beneficial to him, he looked in his inventory, saw his one handed Curved Sword, equipped it to his left, dominant hand and dashed towards the fields.

Arriving at the field, Syandara quickly saw particles being formed as the 'Fenzy Boars' were being spawned. Frenzy Boars were identified due to their high EXP gain but low damage and health. Upon seeing the first Fenzy Boar, Syandana activated 'Slant' and quickly annihilated the unlucky boar.

"Wait, did they get stronger, is it because the game is in it's official release, all the mobs got buffed?"

He felt that the boars got buffed since beta, but thought very little of it as it wasn't a very big deal for him. Anyways, Syandara trained like this still the sky was orange.

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><p>Syandara was exhausted. It was probably 2 PM in the real world, but he didn't mind. He liked it here more anyways.<p>

_Hard to believe this whole thing is just a virtual world, but here is where I can shine. I'm not bound by adults here, not bound by anything! I can be anything here! A blacksmith, a merchant whatever I want! I wish I didn't have to deal with the real world, and just stay here for the rest of my life, but then again, I don't want to worry my parents, I'll log out for now._

Syandara slid his hand through the air in front of him again, and brought out the status window, and lo-

There wasn't a log out button.

"What the hell? Where's the logout button!? I take it back when I thought I wanted to stay here forever! LET ME OUT! No wait, I should be able to message the GMs!"

That button was gone too.

Syandara closed his eyes

_The GMs don't intend to lock us in here until we clear the game, do they? If they do, I swear I'll sue them as soon as I get a chance, or is it just me who is having this log out bug?_

When Syandara opened his eyes again, he was back in the Town in Beginnings. Along with every other player, all 10 thousand. Chatter was everywhere, Syandara did not like it.

Suddenly, a large coated figure appeared and stated

"Hello dear players, Welcome; to Aincrad, my castle."

Chatter was even louder as this point, Syandara was breaking at this point. The tone of the coated figure was a deep voice, and the way he spoke as similar to the stereotypical 'God'.

"I am Akihiko Kayaba, the creator and owner of this world. I am the only one that can control and manipulate this world."

_Kayaba Akihiko? The creator of both SAO and Nervegear, why is he addressing all of us? Is it to tell us this is a bug?_

"I assume that almost all of you have noticed that the log-out button is away from your status windows. I assure you, this is not a bug in the system but a feature. There is no easy way to log out of this world and no one outside can log you out either."

_No way, this isn't a bug? So this is reality for us? All 10 thousand players? All of us, trapped?_

At this point, everyone was yelling and screaming, complaint about how this goes against law.

"If someone does try to remove the Nervegear externally, the Nervegear will discharge a strong electric signal to attack your brain, and ending your life. 213 People have already lost their lives because of this."

Kayaba then proceeded to show news reports of the incidents.

The commotion was at it's peak now, it was to be expected, this wasn't a game. This was a death trap. Also, he already murdered 213 people, that's a record murder time for such a large amount of people.

"However"

"There is a way to get out of this game, clear the game, all 100 floors, and beat the final boss. You will all be logged out after that"

Syandara, gripping his hands, sweating was about to break out and wail like a little child

_WHAT? You can't expect us to clear the game! It took us Beta Testers 2 whole months to reach level 40, which is crazy hard. This is insane!_

_"_This marks the end of the starting tutorial, I wish you the best of luck in clearing the game and goodbye."

Just like that Kayaba disappeared.

_No. This time, I won't cry; I won't ask for help, I'll just be bothering other people._

As soon as Syandara thought this, he felt another player put his or her hand on Syandara's shoulder.

"Hey, you seem like a beta tester! Could you help me clear this game? I'm a noob here."

Syandara thought otherwise.

"I... don't think it would be a good idea to party up with me... I was among the weaker beta-testers."

"It's alright. Let's just go."

"I guess..."

"Alright, what's your name?"

"My name is Syandara. Yours?"

"...Just call me PoH".

Little did I know, that person I met would be my greatest enemy yet in this game.

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><p><strong>AN**

**My greatest concern making this is whether I will continue it... I always lose motivation and come up with some other thing...**

**Anyways, thanks for reading please review.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**Note: All bold text with quotes around them are spoken by Syandara and all Italic text are his thoughts.**

**VR-1-SAO - Phase 1**

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><p><strong>12:00 AM<strong>

"... Just call me PoH"

Those were the words the man spoke, he seemed older than me. He was good-looking enough for most females to fall for him. He seemed to have relatively good equipment, with a dagger called "Copper Dagger".

_He seems omnivorous doesn't he, but I guess making friends with another person isn't so bad... Is it?_

The man called PoH waved his hands in front of my face.

"Hello? Are you there?"

Syandara snapped out of his subconscious quickly by shaking his head.

**"Oh, um, yeah, I'm here."**

"So, do you know where to train? I mean we should get a head start after all, everyone is level 1 at the moment."

**"Yeah, well I'm almost level two."**

"That's better! Let's get training right now!"

**"I guess."**

Just like that, Syandara and his new companion started jogging in the general direction of where "Dire Wolves" were.

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><p><strong>3:00 PM<strong>

"**Wow, I can't believe I already got to level two in the first day!"**

"and, here I am, almost three quarter 's to level two."

**"Well, I am a beta tester"**

_Albeit__ not a very good one._

"Well, that means I'm pretty good right?"

**"I guess"**

Syandara said as he flipped his curved sword in a reverse grip and stabbed yet another "Dire Wolf"

Syandara and PoH trained like this until it was around 6:00 PM, with both gaining experience at a extremely fast rate.

"So, what happens when we get tired and hungry here?"

**"Well, we can eat at the restaurants made by NPC's, and we can sleep at hotels when we get tired."**

"Well, it is 6:00 PM, I think we should get lunch."

**"Yeah your right, lets start heading back to the Town of Beginnings."**

By this time, Syandara was Level 2 and 3/8th of the way to Level 3, while PoH just reached Level 2.

As soon as Syandara and PoH started walking back towards the starting town, they heard a scream.

"HELP!"

**"What the hell?! Already someone needs help? Quickly, PoH lets help him!"**

"Alright!"

Both of them ran towards the direction of the scream and after climbing a steep hill, they saw a two players surrounded by a pack of "Dire Wolves", one female player who was using a one handed sword and one male who was using a axe, both of them using basic starting armor. They obviously were in need of help. As soon as Syndara saw this, he grabbed PoH's hand and pulled him while running towards the players.

The male player was about to lose his last sliver of health from a Dire Wolf's attack, but Syandara jumped down and countered the bite with his curved sword.

**"Are you alright?!"**

Surprised that he wasn't dead the male player regained his stance.

"Yeah... I think so..."

It seems like PoH was helping the female player. They were doing fine against the dire wolves.

Syandara activated the one hit skill 'Slant' across three wolves and quickly annihilated all three wolves at once. The other male activated 'Horizontal' and destroyed only one wolf. Syandara activated 'Vertical' in a attempt to hit two more wolves, but only hit one, while the other one pounced on his arm, quickly, Syandara blocked the bite with the edge of his curved sword and used his foot to bind it to the ground, while stabbing it downwards.

PoH and the female was nearly done with their side, with PoH finishing the last wolf with a quick slash across it's face.

All of them were exhausted, Syandara sat down with the other males back on his back. Both covered in sweat. The males health was close to none, Syandara's health was in the yellow state, PoH in green status, and the female also in green status.

As soon as they all calmed down, PoH started walking slowly towards Syandara.

**"Oh PoH, are you fine? Do you have a spare potion this guy is almo-"**

PoH stabbed the man, ending his life, when the males avatar burst into millions of polygons of data. PoH's cursor turned to a dark crimson red color.

It was silent, PoH was the first player killer in the game.

Syandara and the female both drew their weapons.

**"WHAT THE HELL MAN, WHY DID YOU KILL HIM? AREN'T YOU TRYING TO END THIS DEATH GAME?"**

the female was silent, but PoH wasn't. He laughed, not a normal laugh, but a maniacal laugh.

"You really think this is illegal in Aincrad? The system allows me to do it, so clearly it's not against the rules. I thought you knew better, I was even going to recruit you to join my guild as soon as I started it up. Your a fool. You really think I clear about clearing this game? Please, I was just using you, your a mere pawn to me."

**"REALLY? YOU KILLED HIM BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE THE SYSTEM ALLOWS YOU TO DO IT, IT IS PERFECTLY FINE TO END SOMEONES LIFE?!"**

"Yes. Here's a deal, gather your hatred for me, find me when your stronger than me. Then talk to me, find me when you're strong enough to beat me, because as of right now. You stand no chance."

**"YOU REALLY THINK THAT?"**

Syandara activated 'Uppercut' in a attempt to hurt PoH. PoH countered easily by moving his blade up a view inches.

"Your far too weak, as I said, meet me when your stronger. Strong enough to beat me".

PoH then moved his dagger in a single swiping motion and knocked Syandara backwards into the female. Which the female then caught Syandara.

_... Ugh, fine, I'll find you, then I'll hunt you down, I'll become the player that will hunt down player killers._

PoH was already at a distance where he could be barely seen. The female player was crying. The male player was probably a good friend of hers.

"Are you alright? Who was he? I thought he was a nice guy?!"

**"... His name is PoH. He was someone that I met in the Town of Beginnings. I'll find him, and I'll kill him."**

"... He seems really strong, but anyways, whats your name."

Syandara picked himself off the ground and stood up and held out his hand for the girl to grab.

**"My name is Syandara. Yours?"**

"My name here in Aincrad is Inori."

**"I know we just met and all, but you should probably go back to the nearest town to get some rest, it must have been a shocker to see your boyfriend die."**

"Oh no, he wasn't my boyfriend, he was just a normal friend that also happened to log into SAO"

**"Doesn't matter, go back to town. I'm training, I'm not going to sleep or eat tonight"**

"Are you going to be okay?"

**"I'll be fine. I'm a beta-tester. I'm going to get stronger, and destroy PoH."**

"Are you a idiot? Are you waging a war against a murderer guild that will probably be made?

**"No, it won't be a war."**

...

**"It will be a one sided annihilation."**

And just like that, Syandara left Inori and ran back towards the fields.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Okay, I got the Syandara's main objective stated out, so yeah, yay me. Also, PoH (Prince of Hell) is yes, the leader of "Laughing Coffin" and will be a major antagonist in the future.**

**Another thing is whether I should pair Syandara and Inori together, still don't know about that one. You can tell me through reviews.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and please, if you have time, review my story.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**Note: all bold text with quotes around them are spoken by Syandara and all Italic text are his thoughts.**

**A/N**

**Due to me being one of the worst authors in the world of authors, I remember yesterday night that I forgot to give character appearances other than PoH. So I'll say it now, Syandara currently is wearing basic dark blue starter equipment like Kirito, and Inori is wearing a light red female starter equipment. Syandara has dark brown hair and really dark brown eyes, while Inori has light pink hair (not IRL) and blue eyes. Also, another thing I forgot to mention is that PoH's cursor turned into a orange cursor, anyways bear with my horrible writing.**

**Note: Some things here don't exist in the original story and are made for this story only.**

**VR-1-SAO - Phase 2**

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><p><strong>11:00PM - Dire Wolf Fields<strong>

"... Wait!"

Inori dashed after Syandara underneath the dark, starry, and cloudy skies, attempting to make as little attention as possible.

Syandara dashed through multiple wolves using a single hit sword skill which was called 'Sonic Leap'. While Inori struggled to follow him, barely fending off the remaining wolves that survived Syandara's blade.

"SYANDARA ANSWER ME!"

That got Syandara's attention as another wolf pounced on him and he barely managed to toss his blade in it's face before it bit him on his right arm.

**"... What do you want."**

Inori could barely see his face, with Syandara's hair covering most of his facial features and Syandara himself looking towards the ground.

"You... well, you can't wage a war by yourself! Go get some other people and make a guild! If you don't mind... I would like to join, as thanks for saving me."

**"... No."**

"STOP BEING A IDIOT, YOU CAN'T FIND POH WITH THE SKILLS YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW"

Syandara felt his face fly sideways to the right.

_Ah this feeling, I haven't felt it in a while ever since Summer began. It's a slap, did I really piss her off that much?_

Syandara was stunned, as he was essentially a loner in the real world, getting slapped was not really all that strange as bullies tend to pick on him, but in his first time in his two lives, virtual and reality, he was slapped by a female. Yes, his step-mother in his real world, nor his step-sister never layed a hand on him.

Inori proceeded to grab Syandara's hand and she pulled out a shinning cylinder object; a teleportation crystal

"Teleport! Town of Beginnings!"

Syandara realized that he was about to get teleported away from his experience farm, started sweating and tried to break free of Inori's iron-like grip, but to his avail, he failed.

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><p>After the blue light in Syandara's (and Inori's) eyes disappeared, Syandara stared into the sky above him, thinking about the 99 floors he had to clear.<p>

"So... wheres the hotels?"

**"... Theres one to the west, another to the east. I'm going to the east. Don't follow me."**

Inori turned around to see Syandara slowly walking towards the quieter part of the town, while she shrugged and herself walked in the opposite direction.

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><p><strong>November 6th - Town of Beginnings (East Hotel)<strong>

Syandara woke up sweating panting, and with a start.

Woken in the middle of the night by, a dream. A dream he never wanted to experience again. That certain dream depicted his biological mother and sister being killed. It wasn't a murder or anything, it was just another night, driving home from dinner at a family restaurant near the edge of the town, when suddenly. A drunk driver appeared, not just any drunk driver. One that was driving a cement delivery truck. His mother realizing this, did a massive turn sideways and almost crashed into the local store, but only Syandara was smart enough to get out of the car as soon as it stopped. As soon as he got out of the car, eight year old Syandara was called back into the car by his mother, but the drunk driver crashed into the car, destroying it.

He was left traumatized.

"Ugh, that dream again. CRAP, anyways, not point about dreaming about the past, I need to find PoH, and end him."

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><p><strong>December 7th - Town of Beginnings<strong>

Syandara walked along the streets of the first floor, the familiar sound of the merchants and players chatting annoyed him, he went to the merchant nearest to him and upgraded a new blade, the one-handed curved sword called 'Soaring Blade', after the successful upgrade the blade was now a +4 weapon, quite a powerful weapon he gained from completing a long quest of killing 'Majestic Birds' near the 'Dire Wolf' Field.

_It's been one month since the start of this death game, more than 7/10 of the population of Aincrad has died. The worst part about it? We haven't even cleared the first floor, hell we haven't even found the first floor's boss. Actually, I take that back, we have found the boss. That's were I'm going right now, a conference, a meeting, a discussion of whats the best way to approach our incoming threat. I still don't know whether I should trust this guy._

Syandara eventually arrived at the meeting point specified for the players that were willing to risk their lives to carry the news that this game; was in fact, clear-able, and that they should not give up just yet.

When Syandara arrived there he sat on the second to top row and awaited the person who was going to announce this, a man going by the name, Diavel. After a bit of waiting the blue haired swordsman finally showed up.

"Alright everyone! Now that everyone is here, lets get this meeting started! So anyways I want to thank everyone for coming, and my name is Diavel! In this game, the job I rolled in is 'Knight!'."

Chatter broke in the area, it was expected as in SAO there was no such things as 'Jobs'.

"Are you a idiot? There's no job system in SAO!"

Diavel broke the silence.

"You guys wanna hear this or not?"

Silence was once again, at this "arena", and suddenly Diavel face turned dark. No, not dark, more like serious.

"Right, anyways here's the deal, my party found the boss room at the top of a tower today. We need to defeat the boss and make it to floor 2, and we have to tell everyone it's possible to clear this death game! It's our responsibility as the clearers of this game, do you guys agree or not?".

Everyone seemed to be nodding, with agreement in their eyes. When the nodding stopped, everyone started clapping.

_Wow what charisma. Already cracking jokes and making serious topic discussions. I think I should trust him._

Syandara stood up and joined the clapping. There was even some whistling in the crowd.

"OK, Now let's figure out how we should do this. First off, team up into parties of 6. A normal party doesn't stand a chance against that thing."

Syandara smacked his head.

_Dammit, I don't have any friends! Crap, I gotta find someone fast!_

Syandara looked around and saw a few others scrambling about like him, a one handed sword user, and a player that was cloaked in a red coat using a raiper.

_Wait, could that be PoH? I gotta check that out later._

Suddenly Syandara felt a hand on his left shoulder. Syandara remember about PoH and panicked and shot his right hand up and grabbed the persons hand with it.

"Hey Syandara, you wanna party?"

_Hm, this isn't... WAIT, this is a females hand! Woah woah woah, what female would party up with me?_

Syandara shot his head around and...

**"Oh. It's you."**

"THATS what you say to me, after a month?"

It was Inori, now using a sword AND shield combo, asked him to party up.

"So anyways, you want to party?"

**"I guess."**

"Hey that guy over there, the one handed swordsman, you wanna invite him too?"

**"Go ahead."**

Inori walked over to the male with black hair and asked him to join the party, It look like he declined, with his sideways nod, but Inori said something that made him scratch his cheek and smile at her, presumably saying yes.

Inori walked back over to Syandara.

"So, he said yes, but we have to add that red-cloaked player too."

_WHAT, that red cloak too? What if it's PoH?_

Seeing the swordsman and his red-hooded companion walk towards them Syandara whispered.

**"Uh, don't you think that person is quite suspicious?"**

"Nope, why?"

**"Don't you think he could be PoH?"**

"Uh... Nope."

_I swear, if that person turns out to be PoH... _

"Hey."

That was the first word the swordsman said to Syandara.

**"Hey, I'm Syandara, I'm not one to socialize, but anyways, nice to meet you. I presume your Kirito?"  
><strong>

"Woah! How do you know who I am?"

**"Are you joking? Your the top player during the beta test, the one who hit level 40 and cleared the 8th floor."**

"That's why, no one so far has recognized me, do I know you?"

**"I was part of the raid party for floor number 4, I doubt you knew me, I was just in the backlines dealing with the minions"**

"Oh."

**"Do you want to be party leader?"**

"Nah I have enough glory in the beta days."

**"Inori what about you?"**

"I'm fine~"

**"What about you, Mr. cloaked figure."**

"It's doesn't matter to me."

**"Guess I'm party leader then..."**

Syandara opened his menu and added the trio in front of him. Each of them accepted with names popping up on the left side of his screen every time.

_Hm. Inori, Kirito, and... Asuna. That's not PoH is it._

"Hey Syandara. Are you left handed?" The other male asked.

**"Yeah, why?"**

"Nothing."

"ALRIGHT, looks like everyone's teamed up, now then le-"

"HOLD ON A SECOND."

An orange haired player jumped up on the podium and yelled.

"MY NAME IS KIBAOU GOT THAT? Now, before we take on the boss, I need to get something off my chest, we all know about the two THOUSAND players who died so far? Well some of us need to apologize to them RIGHT NOW."

Both Kirito and Syandara lowered their heads.

"Kibaou, I think I know who you're talking about. You're talking about the ex-Beta testers aren't you?" said Diavel.

"'Course I mean them! The day this death game started, they left us noobs in the dust, and stole ALL the good leveling spots! They also grabbed the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting stronger! I GUARANTEE that there are some of them RIGHT HERE. Come on out Beta-Testers, and give us all your stuff! They can't expect us to trust them when they don't trust us. WHY SHOULD WE?"

Kirito was shuddering, realizing this Syandara stood up.

**"Hey Kibaou, I'm a beta-tester."**

"Oh, so your one of those bastards!"

**"Yeah, I'm a beta-tester, but I'm also a noob, I spent my days in the beta in the lower levels."**

"Doesn't make you any better! You DITCHED us!"

**"Yeah, your right, I know that. So, you want my items right?"**

"That's right! Cough 'em up!"

**"If that makes you not hate the other Beta-testers, then fine. I don't have much on me anyways, I only have one item that's worth taking, a +4 'Soaring Blade', it's a Curved Sword, take it if you want it."**

"A +4 I'll take it!"

**"Well, aren't you being greedy."**

"What do you mean!"

**"Your calling us Beta-testers greedy, but in all honesty, your worse than us. Look at you, you don't even use a Curved Sword and you want a +4 item? You said 'I'll take it!'. That means you have no intention of giving a Curved Sword user it. It just means, that your a selfish bastard that only wants item's for himself. I admit it, we Beta-testers are horrible people, no denying that, but you. You're worse than the worse."**

Quietness in the meeting was overwhelming, silence was everywhere. Even some of the players walking by were quiet.

"THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING, YOU BETA-TESTERS NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO THOSE TWO THOUSAND PLAYERS, RIGHT NOW!"

"Can I have a word?"

A tall brown-skinned man walked up to Kibaou.

"Hey, my name is Agil, I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say it's the Beta-testers fault for not helping the rookies death, because they didn't help em, and you want them to apologize and not leave any items in their possession. Did I leave anything out?"

"No, you didnt." Kibaou shouted with a mocking tone.

Agil pulled out a brown book, and said;

"They still hand these out for free. It's a guide book, I presume you got one?"

"Sure I got one! So what about it?"

"You know who hands them out? The Beta-testers." Agil stated.

Murmurs and chatter broke out, and Kibaou started sweating. Agil turned around and said.

"Listen up, everyone had the same information when we started, the Beta-testers are not at fault. Even so, a lot of players still died."

Kirito calmed down and Syandara sat down, and Kibaou slowly walked back to a seat.

"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diavel stated.

Everyone nodded.

Diavel pulled out another brown book, and stated

"This is the latest version of the guide book, it has all the information we know about the boss. According to the book, the bosses name is 'Ilfang the Kolbold Lord'. Also he'll be crowded with his minions, the Ruined Kobold Sentinels. He carries a axe and a buckler, he has four health bars and when he only has one health bar left, he switches to a Curved Sword. His patterns also change. That's it for the briefing, money is divided among everyone, and the party who defeats him gets the EXP. ALSO, anyone who gets any items, keeps it. Any objections?"

"No! Lets do this!"

"TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!"

"This guy..."

_These kids are like elementary school kids, don't they realize we could all potentially die?_

"Good! We leave tomorrow at 10 in the morning! Meeting adjourned!"

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><p><strong>10 PM December 7th - Town of Beginnings<strong>

**"Uh, what's going on over-there with Kirito and Asuna?"**

"Awww, don't mind them, they look nice together!" *whisper* "if shes a girl that is."

**"I guess it's a girl, I mean Asuna is a feminine name." **Said Syandara as he pulled out some bread and put some butter over it, taking a bite.

"But they're so cute together..." Inori stated

Some distance away, Kirito and the 'female' Asuna sat together and Kirito seemed to open a conversation with her.

Asuna moved away, ignoring the conversation, and Kirito took out a bread, but this time Asuna started a conversation.

Syandara made a exaggerated sigh and stated

**"How much do you want to bet, that those two will date in the future, assuming she is a female"**

"I don't want to bet, I know it's going to happen~"

Kirito pulled out a cylinder object, the same one that was beside Syandara and Asuna took a bit of the cream it produced, while Kirito took the last of it, and the cylinder object exploded into particles with a glass sound.

"Hey Syandara, what is that item?"

**"It's a cream for food. You can take some if you want."**

"Oh! Thanks~"

Inori took some cream and pasted on her own bread.

"This is delicious! Where did you get it?"

**"I bought it off of Kirito. Go ask him"**

"But I don't want to ruin this moment..." said Inori as she made a 'sad' face.

The night ended like that.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Sorry for the long wait ;w; I lost motivation and got bored, so I started playing Osu!, but anyways, here you go, a chapter nearly 3 times the size of chapters 1 and 2.**

**Thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you have time. **


	4. Chapter 3

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**Note: Starting for here, I think I'll start writing in first person view as I feel like it's a better way to tell a story, just think of it as the character telling you a story.**

**Perspective: Syandara**

**VR-1-SAO - Phase 3**

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><p><strong><strong>9:30 AM December 8th - Town of Beginnings<strong>**

Inori was getting bored, I mean, I was too. We are all still slowly trudging up a small hill, but then I saw her smile a bit. That couldn't mean anything good.

Of course, she started a conversation, but with Kirito. She started with, "So, um, Kirito is it?"

Kirito replied with the normal, "Yes? What's up?"

"Where did you get that, er, cream?" As soon as she said that, I became less suspicious, but still. Something was off.

"A quest, in the village before this one, it's really easy, you want me to show you how?" Kirito looked suspicious of her like me, but answered anyways.

"Hm... I'm lazy, so nope!"Inori decided.

Kirito and I both sighed in unison. Asuna, the red-hooded member remained silent.

"Anyways, lets go over it again" said Kirito

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, we're the backup, so we go for the sentinels and leave the rest to the big guys." I muttered.

That also, inadvertently leaves us with no loot and less experience

"Wow, geez you didn't have to be so mean about it. Anyways, I'm going to use sword skills to knock the weapons away, you guys should switch in and attack." Explained Kirito.

"What's a switch?" whispered Asuna.

"Yeah I don't know what it is either..." said Inori with a cheerful face.

I almost tripped and fell, how could you survive for a WHOLE month and not party with anyone? I asked, "You've survived for one WHOLE month, and you haven't partied with anyone?"

"Yeah, so you guys NEVER been in a party before? Kirito agreed with me.

"Yup~" said Inori, still with that seemingly never changing face.

Asuna remained silent and just started walking faster.

* * *

><p>We just arrived at the dungeon and WOW. It's huge. There are torches everywhere and obviously there is a roof.<p>

Diavel stopped in front of the dungeon door and stabbed his sword down in a knight fashion and said, "All right guys, this is the only thing I got to say to you... Let's win!" he also added a fist pump for added affect.

Most of the people around us nodded, even though they had somewhat grim looks on their faces. All of our groups from A to G were ready, A to C would engage the boss, and E to G would take the sentinels. Later on Group D would replace C and lower it's health down lower, after the sentinels were cleared, all of the groups would try to engage the boss, with the exception of E, we would stand on guard looking for any surprise sentinels.

Diavel pushed open the door and we slowly entered, my party in the E group, lead by the idiot Kibaou was in the back. However, we still saw the look in the ox-like boss's eyes. The red glint was added probably as intimidation but whatever.

The third team, lead by Diavel crept in slowly, and as soon as they were around the half way point, the room was no longer in darkness; the room was changed to a well-lit version of it, through the system and if this was the real world, I doubt most of the players here would say it was easy for their eyes to adjust. However, this was SAO, everything is simplified here.

Well, as soon as the room got lit, the boss, jumped up in the front to greet us, and let out a loud roar, we could now see "Illfang the Kobold Lord" above it and the red cursor. Also, the sentinels spawned.

As soon as that happened Diavel yelled, "COMMENCE, ATTACK!", and our whole expedition charged in. The first one to meet the sentinels was Kibaou, activating a sword skill to block it's initial attack.

Diavel was yelling commands out, and I stood there admiring his charisma, seriously that guy had amazing skill at directing a party. I finally snapped out of my day dreaming when Kirito blocked a sentinel advancing towards me.

I was grateful for that, and to show my thanks I yelled, "Thanks! I'll pay you back!", also the yelling in the room was getting loud.

After that Kirito advanced to another minion and knocked it away, and told Asuna, "SWITCH!"

The red hooded player, sprinted in-front of Kirito and activated a sword skill with her rapier, Kirito seemed to be looking in amazement according to myself. Asuna quickly annihilated the sentinel and another spawned on top of Kirito, this time I was the one to block the hit with the back end of my curved sword, and then I proceeded to knock it towards to Inori who was caught by surprise and 'accidentally' stabbed it through the chest.

Though it seemed to be a very short intermission between the start and now, I looked at the bosses HP bar and I saw, what, three health bars depleted, and it's last health bar in the red zone.

The boss threw away it's hatchet.

A change in plan happened as Diavel shouted, "I got this guys! What the hell? Was he going for the last attack bonus?"

Kirito let out a small mutter, "What? I thought the group was for everyone to surround it?"

Diavel ran in front of everyone smiling mischievously, and as soon as that happened, he activated a sword skill that covered his weapon in a yellow light

Also, the boss let out a loud roar was it pulled it a talwar? No... It was a nodachi... A Katana type weapon. This wasn't supposed to happen! Did Kayaba change something?

Kirito looked like he had the same thoughts as I did, as he yelled, "NO WAIT, IT'S NOT GOOD DIAVEL, STOP IT!"

Diavel ignored him and ran straight for the boss, with his sword glowing in a holy yellow color, but unfortunately for him "Illfang the Kobold Lord" jumped straight up and bounced around the roof until it launched itself towards Diavel and slashed him right across the chest in a diagonal arc. Which was then followed up by a upper-hand slash.

Kirito rushed to Diavel's side after the boss jumped towards the majority of the group and tried to pull out a potion and asked, "What the hell were you thinking!"

Diavel simply rejected the potion and said, "Hey, you were a beta-tester too..."

Meanwhile, I was trying to block every single attack that the Kobold Lord offered with a stream of sword skills, I sighed in desperation, I mean who wouldn't? Kirito was having a nice chat over there with Diavel while all of us could potentially die!

Seemingly, after Diavel finished his sentence, he exploded into millions of data, with Kirito holding him. Everyone looked at Diavel's data's flying up towards the roof.

Wow, that's the word that echoed in my brain as I saw his death. He led the players and unified them. Now he was dead. He wasn't a greedy beta-tester like the rest of us. He was a true, genuine, Hero.

Kirito looked up with determination and yelled, "Syandara. Just like the plan I told you before."

"... Okay."

I nodded in desperation, and charged up using my sword skill. The Kobold Lord easily parried my attack, but not with a price, it left out a big opening. Which Inori subsequently used to attack the foe. However, it was not a very strong slice as the Kobold Lord just seemed to get more agitated, but this. This was the moment Kirito sprang into action, using the same sword skill as I, he knocked the Kobold Lord's sword up, in the exact same motion and yelled, "SWITCH!" to Asuna. This gave Asuna a chance to run through everyone and...

The bosses eyes glinted again and Kirito shouted, "Asuna!"

Asuna let out a "uh" sound but kept on going anyways, while the Kobold Lord slashed down and... Ripped off her mantle. What was then revealed was a stunning beauty with brown hair and just like Inori and I predicted, it was a female.

She deviled a sword skill which struck the Boss in it's entirety and nearly killed it. It had a sliver of HP left, after that, it used a downward slash to slash at Asuna, which Inori (I think) Luckily parried away.

Kirito was looking in amazement but the boss was coming back, which they did the same combo, Kirito parrying and Asuna attacking. After this, the boss went straight for Asuna which this time, Kirito blocked and tried to advance on it, but left a opening in his blows which the boss used to attack Kirito which sent him flying into Asuna.

The boss went for both of them this time, and slashed down on them, which the African man earlier who defended beta testers, er, Agil parried with his hammer. Everyone charged in after that, excluding my party alone. The boss did the same downward slash on the party which Kirito, even without drinking one potion, knocked it backwards with a slash on it's back. Kirito yelled, "Guys! Help me beat this sucker, just one last attack!". The four of us yelled our respective battle cries as stupid as it seemed and Kirito and Asuna went with their same old combo, after that. I flanked it from the back pushing it forward, which Kirito used to activate a sword skill to attack the front. Inori decided to delivered another down-ward slash, slicing apart it's weapon, Kirito activated another sword skill, this time dragging it across it's body with a yell. Up it went into the sky and exploded. Just like Diavel.

"..."

"Ah"

"Huh"

"Hm"

_**CONGRATULATIONS!**_

Everyone started screaming "Yeahs!" and "Woo Hoo!"'s. While Kirito just sat in the back, seemingly tired. Also, the room turned dark black again. Oh yeah, Kirito got the last attack bonus, which I secretly prayed that I would get. Agil and Asuna just went in front to talk to Kirito while Inori and I just sat in the back, she seemed to be quite disappointed she couldn't do much. I tired to cheer her up.

"..."

"HEY IDIOT, IF YOU TOLD US HE HAD A NODACHI AND THOSE MOVEMENT PATTERNS, DIAVEL WOULD HAVE LIVED." Yelled someone, it was Kibaou.

Woo hoo, you ruined the happy moment. Genius.

One random guy lashed out and said, "I know why he knew! He used to be a beta-tester! Think about it he know the bosses attack patterns, he knew, but he kept it from us! Also, I don't think he's the only beta-tester here! Remember that guy with a +4 Soaring Blade! He's a beta-tester too! The rest of you, come on! Show yourselves!"

And once again, everyone was looking around, searching for potential beta-testers. Like before.

I saw Kirito swallow air and he... Well. Started laughing manically.

"AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA"

He started with, "So you guys think I used to be a beta-tester? It's not cool to put me in the same class as those noobs."

Kibaou yelled back, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"I told you, most of the people who scored one of the one thousand copies of SAO were total rookies at the MMORPG genre. They were so noob, they didn't even know how to level up! Though, even you guys are better than they were." He said walking through the crowd.

"But me? I'm nothing like those guys."

"During the beta, I made it too floors higher than any other than the testers, that's how I knew the boss's attack patterns, I've fought with monsters a lot stronger than these." He was right, he made it to floor what eight, solo. I was envious of him.

"I know a bunch of more things too, more than you can imagine. More than any info booker."

"W-w-what the hell? If that's true than your worst than the beta-testers! Your a god-dam cheater! That's what you are!" said Kibaou

The crowd agreed with him, and somewhere among the sentences I heard "Beater".

"A Beater huh? I like that, from now on, don't confuse me with those noobs." said Kirito as he equipped the "Coat of Midnight"

He walked away.

I understood him, he was lessening the burden on Beta testers taking the hatred on himself.

Asuna blocked his escaped and said, "Wait." They conversed a bit, but whatever, I needed to get out of here, I snuck out with Inori following me for some reason I do not know.

I saw Kirito leave the party, and leave the dungeon behind me. I dissolved the party, as it was for only today.

For some odd reason, Inori went to the same in as me today.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Took me a while to do this, now OFF TOO MATH HOMEWORK!**

**Remember, leaving a review and favorite is nice and all, but don't feel pressured to do it.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**Note: Starting for here, I think I'll start writing in first person view as I feel like it's a better way to tell a story, just think of it as the character telling you a story.**

**Thanks to the two people who submitted OC's**

**ShadeZyro - Kota**

**Bigtimereader198 - Chi**

**Prespective: Syandara**

**VR-1-SAO - Phase 3**

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><p><strong>11:00 AM December 8th - Urbus - Second Floor<strong>

I sat at a bar on the second floor. Sitting at a information meeting, it's pretty silent right now, it seems like coming here was a waste, I think I should go back to grinding. Then, someone broke the silence.

"... Have you heard?" stated a woman in a full red armor. Judging from her equipment, she used a standard sword and shield combo.

I heard some muttering while sitting at a bar, while the woman was talking to her friends at a table not to far behind him. I got interested in the conversation, I wasn't going to lie.

"... Yeah I did about the ... right? ... stuff going on."

I missed about three to four words, but I wanted to listen more, I let out a deep sigh, but continued thinking, "but I think it would be quite rude to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation".

Aww what the hell, I heard more words, such as P.K. and death. Both of those things are quite negative. Wait... Could it be, that, someone started a P.K. guild? There's only one person who would do that. PoH.

Ialked out the bar.

"I think I'll upgrade my equipment. Soaring Blade is still viable here on the second floor, but I still should probably upgrade it to a higher level" I muttered to myself

He walked across the street, and went to the nearest NPC that owned a smiting shop since I didn't know any players with the smith skill. Frankly, I don't even know much people. I have Inori on my friend's list and that's about it. Anyways, it's more efficient to get players to upgrade weapons then NPC's because NPC's have a higher fail rate then players.

"Hey" he said to the NPC

"Hello! Welcome to Takashi's smith shop! How can I help you?" It enthusiastically replied.

Syandara stated my business, "Upgrade my blade once more." he didn't need to make big talk, because the NPC was simply scripted to say response to either a yes or no answer.

The NPC looked at me blankly, probably because my answer to his question was too complex for him to understand.

Syandara angrily, but politely said "How much col is it to upgrade my blade?"

This time, the NPC seemed to get his answer and replied "That will be 17,000 Col sir, as your blade is already +4."

"Holy crap, that's quite expensive, but whatever, I have the money to pay for it" he muttered. He regretfully payed for the upgrade and prayed for success as the NPC slowly, but surely hit the sword with his hammer once, twice, and now three times.

"Oh crap, there goes my lunch" he realized.

"Oh well, what's done is done, it was successful, honestly, I should have upgraded it earlier, but I don't trust the NPC's on the first floor... They have a one out of three chance to get a successful enhancement once you upgrade it to +5." he said to himself.

"Anyhow, now that I've upgraded my weapon, I should go grind for EXP, I'm currently level 16. I want to get to level 21 at least, before we go engage the boss." he thought to himself

I heard about the 'Gate Keeper' that we have to kill before we can get to the boss. What a pain. Hopefully it isn't as strong as the first floor boss. I'm not wasting my time for that.

Well, I think I'll stock up on crystals for teleporting and health regeneration. I went to a merchant called Agil. You might know him, he was the tall African man that saved the Beta-tester's at the first floor's meeting about the boss.

I opened the door to his shop and walked over to the counter and rang the bell.

"Is that Syandara? I'll be there in a second!" said a yell from the back of the room.

I replied with a "Yeah! It's me Agil!".

After a bit of loud noises, maybe some crates falling over, he came out of the storage room looking a bit tired.

"Hey Syandara! What brings you here?"

I was about to reply to him when I heard the bell ring again when the door opened. Who walked in was a swordsman wearing the 'Coat of Midnight'. It could be no other but SAO's most despised player, Kirito. I mean, I didn't hate him, in fact, I see him as a good friend.

He opened his mouth and stated, "Hey Agi- Oh hey guys".

I looked at him blankly, expecting him to feel awkward, I mean yeah I'm a scumbag. He just looked back at me blankly. Hm.

I looked back towards Agil and told him, "I just came here for health crystals".

Agil was still staring into Kirito when he snapped out of it and exclaimed, "Oh, oh, um, yeah! Weird to see both of you visit my store at once, but anyways".

He reached under the counter and grabbed three red crystals and said, "that will be 3000 Col".

I tried to bargain with him, I mean, I'm pretty broke right now, "Uh, would you take 1500 Col?"

"No."

I grinned, no matter who he's helping, he's always a merchant at heart, I once again, payed for the Col and walked by Kirito. When I got near him, I put my hand on his shoulder.

He looked at me blankly again.

I put a mischievous grin and looked at him, I said, "So, how's it going with that Asuna girl?"

I saw his face go bright scarlet and his mouth go speechless, as I left the store and burst out laughing when I got outside.

Now, I was walking along the market place when suddenly...

*Smack*

Crap! I just bumped into a person, crap crap crap, I looked up and saw the person dressed in A LOT of black, shoot off the group and attempted to dash of to the, well, someplace other than where we were currently.

Wait, is that person trying to run away so she didn't have to pick up my crystals I just bought? Actually, that was what I WAS thinking, keyword, WAS, because some other person who was dressed in brown, grabbed the persons arm and whispered something into the person's ear.

I looked at the first person, and saw that she was using a Katana, which meant that she was most likely a higher level than me, as you need to max the Curved Blade skill before getting the Katana skill.

The second person, clad in brown opened his mouth and started to speak, "Hey... um".

I automatically assumed he was asking for my name and replied with, "It's Syandara".

He let out a small grin and continued with his sentence, "Hello Syandara, my name is Kota, and the person who stumbled into you and tried to run away is Chi".

I looked at Chi and she was seemingly ignoring me, while Kota started speaking again, "Sorry about that". He said as he started to pick up the dropped crystals and handed them back towards me.

I thanked them, and proceeded to turn away when Chi opened her mouth and said, "You should level up your skill".

I tuned around and stated, "Level up what?".

"Your Curved Blade skill."

With that, both of them walked away and I just shrugged my shoulders and just started to dash towards the north side, where the forest was located and started my daily grind.

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><p><strong>3:35 PM December 8th - Urbus - Second Floor<strong>

I've been grinding for roughly 5 hours.

You may think, "Oh, he's been grinding for 5 hours, he should be at least a few levels up!", my answer to that? Well, I've leveled up twice. Not that much for five hours. The reason why is that the only good monsters for farming at this level is Wasps. Those things are tiny, and my accuracy is horrible. Another reason of why I'm grinding at THIS location is because I'm trying to gather materials for a glove, yeah, laugh if you want, but I got the sewing skill.

I was about to turn back to walk back to Urbus, when I heard a voice, "Hey~~~! Syandara!"

I immediately knew who it was. I stopped for a moment, and heard the running footsteps stop. Once I heard that, I well, ran full speed ahead as fast as I could.

"Syanda- WAIT! THESE TWO PEOPLE SAY THEY KNOW YOU!" said the voice.

This time, I stopped for real, and turned around, and lo and behold, I saw the two people I met earlier, Kota and Chi. A notification then popped up in front of me saying, "Inori has invited you to a party" with a blue circle and a red "x" underneath it. I raised my arm to press the red button, but then the same voice, Inori's voice said, "IF YOU ACCEPT I'LL TREAT YOU TO CAKE". Which I then responded to moving my arm to the blue button, because hell, that cake was expensive.

I pushed my arm down onto the button and saw three more names under mine, Inori, Kota, and Chi. Slowly, I walked towards them and opened my mouth and asked, "So, why are you guys here?"

Inori started opening her mouth, when a loud voice was heard, "HELP!". I swear, I'm getting a intense sense of Deja Vu.

Chi, Kota, Inori and I all ran towards the direction of the sound, over the mountain and saw one male dressed in all orange wielding a spear.

Inori opened her mouth and sighed, "Why do I feel like I've been in this position before..."

Well, duh, I rescued you... With that scumbag called PoH...

Anyways, it wasn't just the male that was there. There were what, three hooded figures surrounding him. I automatically assumed they were his friends, but I realized there wasn't any monsters around her. So that means...

Player Killers.

I immediately rushed towards the stranded player, blocking a blade from one of the hooded figures and throwing him or her backwards, while shortly after, Inori, Kota, and Chi arrived. After they arrived, one of the hooded figures put his hand up, spreading his fingers, signalling a stop. The hooded figure looked up and at me and spoke, "Hello. Syandara".

As soon as the person said my name, I knew who he was. PoH. That guy, the guy who murdered Inori's friend early on the game. A person who pretended to be my friend. My face broke out in a face of anger, I mean why wouldn't it? I immediately rushed towards him, but I stopped, why? Because he raised his other hand, with a dagger. He stated, "It's show time".

As soon as he said that, five other cloaked figures appeared, all with orange cursors. I'm not a idiot, I backed off, but the seven cloaked figures, excluding PoH, slowly advanced towards me when I heard a voice behind me, Inori's voice, "Hey Syandara, don't forget! Your not alone here!", she proceeded to back her statement up, because Kota, Chi, and the new male I have yet to learn the name of all raised their weapons.

They charged at us first, I parried a blade with my curved sword and used my left leg to kick the other person, with a hammer away from me, straight into Inori's range with her single-edged sword. Meanwhile Kota was skillfully blocking the attackers attacks and using their broken defense to attack them and Chi was gracefully and quickly attacking the rest, I think we were a good team, also we didn't turn orange, I mean, they were orange, so we wouldn't turn orange for hurting them, because the system saw it as self-defense. Which it was. Again, PoH was still standing there, while his "helpers" were still struggling against us, after a while of fighting on our part, we were still fine, while the goons were well, decimated. Even the unknown male helped fend of the rest of the attackers.

Only three of them were still standing not including PoH. The other three were on the ground, probably unconscious. PoH grunted, "Guys, we're getting out of here for now, retreat". Surprisingly it was a calm voice. With that, they left.

I dropped down in exhaustion, I mean, it was a life or death scenario... No deaths so far. The three goons were still on the ground, with the rest of them gone.

Someone handed me a health restoration, the guy, he was in the party now, as I saw one extra name under Chi's, "Yami" I was grateful, I was about to die, I expressed my thanks and took the crystal and used it.

"Isn't there a jail on the first floor?", stated Kota, as he picked up one of bodies.

"I think the Aincrad Liberation Party set up a jail in the first floor, something called Black Iron Palace..." I said.

"... Let's take them there then." muttered Chi.

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><p><strong>5:56 PM December 8th - Urbus - Second Floor<strong>

It's been a while after that fight. Those three are currently imprisoned that jail. All five of us are currently walking back. All silent. Inori was the first one to open her mouth as usual, "So... About that guild, I talked about a long time ago Syandara..."

I agreed with her easily, as I knew there wasn't a way to get out of it, "Yeah, yeah I'll make one, but only you and I are willing to join..."

"Nope" said a voice, it was Kota's. "I'll be joining, if that's fine with you, and Chi will too."

"...But I don't want to..." whispered Chi.

Kota retaliated with, "It'll be fun anyways!"

Yami, the new guy also said his own words, "I'll join too if you don't mind".

I sighed deeply and looked at everyone and turned my back towards them and started walking.

Inori looked surprised and yelled at me, "MAKE THE GUILD SYANDARA!".

I looked back at her and muttered, "I am. I need to go back to the town."

She looked stunned for a moment, but after that she went back to her normal smile and started walking happily along with me.

On that night, the orange player hunting guild, Syndicate of the Dreaming Wolves was born.

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><p><strong>AN**

**Hey guys, took a while to finish this one, because of recent studies but anyways I'm done now.**

**Remember, leaving a review and favorite is nice and all, but don't feel pressured to do it.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Dreaming Blade**

**I own nothing from SAO, nothing at all.**

**Prespective: Syandara**

**VR-1-SAO - Phase 5**

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><p><strong>11:00 AM December 29th - Mishe - 35th Floor<strong>

I'm actually quite well known now.

My guild and I, I mean. The Syndicate of Dreaming Wolves was infamous for hunting down orange guilds. People know us as the sole mercenary group in SAO. I walked out of the inn I was staying at, I mean, I need to get to the Weathercock Pavilion. The restaurant that is famous for its cheese-cakes, I need to meet up with the guild, because according to Argo, there would be a special boss during Christmas, and guess what? The day tomorrow is Christmas. Walking pass the stores I see a figure in a attire of pure black, well not pure black, but I would recognize that coat anywhere. _Holy Crap _is that Kirito? I mean, that person is wearing the Coat of Midnight, the first boss last attack drop.

I immediately messaged my guild, "I won't be joining you guys today, some business came up".

I dropped what I was doing after I messaged my guild and chased after the guy in the coat. When I finally caught up, I tapped his shoulder and whispered, "Boo". Obviously, it was Kirito, but he had no reaction, as if he had just seen a ghost, and he just started walking away. That wasn't right.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked?

He ignored me and kept walking, he walked towards the Forest of Wandering. I get it, he want's the boss's item. The rumored item that would revive players. I immediately knew his intentions. Someone died, that's the reason he's acting like that. He want's the boss item to revive that person. Probably scouting the area where the boss would spawn.

I grabbed him by the shoulder this time and stated with a blank face, "So, someone died, and you want to revive that person?"

This time, he stopped, turned around and looked blankly at him, I starred back with the same face.

He replied with, "How. How do you know?"

I tried not to break out in laughter, as that would hurt him, but I still answered, "Your face says it all, so does your actions, going for the boss? I bet you want that revival item to revive someone, I mean, you look depressed as hell".

He looked back and stated, "You know, it's scary how you know that, anyways, leave me alone, I'm _going_ to kill that boss".

Hm, I could be a major annoyance right now, but I decided against it, walking around in circles in the snow I said, "Nope, I'm going with you. With my guild. Don't worry, you just want the drop right? I just want the EXP".

Kirito dipped his head down for a bit, he then said his reply, "Fine, but your going to help me scout the field where Nicholas The Renegade spawns.", after stating that, he started walking forwards again

I agreed, I mean why not? I skipped the guilds hunting schedule for this, might as well stick to it. It seems like Kirito warmed up to me, even with his depression what not. I obviously tagged along.

We walked in silence.

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><p><strong>2:00 PM<strong>** December 29th - Forest of Wandering - 35th Floor**

We've been scouting for hours, and hunting. Hunting too, don't forget about the hunting. Things are boring, at least it WAS boring, because suddenly in a open field, while we were hunting Drunk Apes. In that open field, Kirito sat down, and took out some food, we didn't eat lunch yet.

Then, suddenly a bight blue light appeared and a giant object with a huge mass came crashing down at the open field. I dropped my sandwich. My jaw dropped. I looked at the name of the field boss and it said "Greater Drunk Ape" and three health bars appeared on top of it. Wow, Kayaba Akihiko, if you can read my mind, I just wanted to tell you, your naming sense, is horrible.

Kirito stopped nibbling on his loaf of bread and took out his long-sword, "Queen's Knightsword", while I pulled out my own katana, yes I have that katana skill now, anyways I pulled out my katana, "Amaterasu".

"Kirito... You see that giant ape?" I asked.

He replied, "Yeah..."

I told him, "Well, you know about me tagging along... Could I get the last attack bonus on this?"

Kirito smirked and looked back towards me, "If you get it".

Wow, he was acting all depressed a moment ago. What about now? Perfectly fine. Strange. Anyways, Kirito and I both rushed the humongous drunk age, all mobs had a small time-frame where they are immobile, so we're taking advantage of that. Kirito and I, obviously being smaller than the field boss, rushed for it's legs and went for multiple slice, I saw Kirito activate a three-hit sword skill, which I responded in activating a four-hit sword skill.

The boss yelled out in agony and slammed its fist down on me, I jumped away obviously. I'm lucky I didn't decide to guard there, I would have been crushed right there and even IF I was able to block, my katana would have shattered right there. After dodging my left arm, holding my blade shot out like an arrow, this first attack was a bluff, I wasn't expecting it to actually hit the boss. Obviously it did dodge, it was fast for it's size. However, this didn't matter to me, because if I forced it to jump, it wouldn't be able to change it's direction while in the air, so next, my arm sliced upwards. As planned, the boss jumped upwards.

I yelled, "Kirito! Switch!".

Kirito stuttered a bit, but jumped in the air anyways. It seemed like Kirito's STR parameter was abnormally high, as he jumped several meters in the sky, well above the boss and activated a one hit sword skill. Slicing the boss and destroying half of the first life bar. Actually the boss only had one and a half more life bars, as our harassing slashes did more than enough to its health.

"Greater Drunk Ape" raised its right arm as Kirito and I began to circle the boss, I'm taking this seriously. After all, it's a matter of life or death. If we couldn't beat this boss, I highly doubt we could beat Nicholas the Renegade. I'm treating this game as real life. I felt more alive here anyways, the battles here were real battles, real fights. I'll treat them as such. Analyzing the boss, I saw one flaw. The one flaw of it was the field. That boss is not well made for a plain area like this. This is in advantage for us. I had a lot of experience fighting orange-players, but I don't go mobbing that much and even when I did, it was with my guild, with coordinated tactics.

Anyways, Kirito activated a infamous skill known as Vorpal Strike, which was known for being a ridiculously strong one hit sword skill, it was unlocked after your proficiency with one handed swords reached 950. It hit the boss, and it stood there, clenching it's stomach with its hands. I activated a three hit sword skill, exclusive to katanas, Hiōgi. I slashed upwards once, downwards, and finally, a strong thrust.

After that, I stayed on guard, but, I didn't realize it at the time, the boss was already defeated. It instantly blew up in multiple blue and white polygons and after that, I saw one bright white message in front of myself. It said, "Congratulations!". Soon after that, I leveled up to level 42, and another window appeared in front of me, it said, "Last Hit Bonus!", I looked down on it and saw one item.

"Coat of Snowdrop".

I dropped down, catching my breath and then I realized the name of the item. It was strikingly similar to Kirito's coat. I opened my mouth to speak to Kirito, "Hey Kirito. Your coat is the Coat of Midnight right?".

Kirito looked at me strangely and nodded. I then told him, "Well, I just got a rare item. Coat of Snowdrop." I scrolled down my menu window and used my item appraiser skill and looked at the stats, I then told Kirito the stats, "+50 Tracking". That would be useful for me, as my guild hunts the player killers. Immediately, I donned the coat to prevent myself from freezing. I mean, freezing here wouldn't actually affect me, but it still felt weird.

I felt a thud on my shoulders as the white coat and grey coat covered me, covering me with warmth. Kirito looked stunned, and just sighed and turn his head and walked back. I think I'm getting a bit annoying, I blame Inori.

I followed Kirito back to Mishe.

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><p><strong>11:00 AM December 30th - Mishe - 35th Floor<strong>

Yay! It's Christmas, time to celebrate and things! Actually no. I have to help Kirito do his thing. After all, we didn't do a lot of scouting yesterday. I walked down the small inn I was in and I approached by Inori, Kota, Chi, and Yami waiting for me at the exit.

Obviously, the asked me where I was going as I skipped hunting yesterday, "Syandara. Where, are you going".

I replied with a honest, straight answer, "Helping Kirito", and I walked out of the inn. They followed me. Being around me so much, they knew to just keep quiet about it. Assuming I was going to be late, I rushed towards the fountain of the town to meet Kirito.

Being the sneaky individual I am, I told my guild to stay undercover until I give the 'Signal'. When I arrived to the fountain, Kirito greeted me, and we went to the forest, with the Dreaming Wolves undercover behind me.

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><p><strong>2:00 PM<strong>** December 30th - Forest of Wandering - 35th Floor**

Kirito walked in silence, so did my guildmates, Kirito found them out. He probably has a high Searching skill. Inori was about to open her mouth, I waved my hand up, knowing Kirito was currently a depressed man. Everything was going along fine. Until, we met a man. Dressed in red. I raised my katana up in a defensive stance, he used a katana too.

The man opened his mouth, "Oi! Kirito!".

He knows Kirito, well most of the people in this world do. Everyone knows all the beaters in the game, myself included. I dropped my katana down in a lower defense stance. Kirito seemed to ignore the man dressed in red, until he said, "Klein, I don't need distractions right now".

"Klein" seemed to know what Kirito meant, and he argued that he wouldn't be able to solo the boss, until I coughed a bit and looked at him with a disappointed face. He stared back at me, hm. He should know me, I mean I am the guild leader of the Syndicate of the Dreaming Wolves. He studied my face with a glare and then, suddenly. Jumped back.

He yelled, "HOLY CRAP IT'S THAT PLAYER!", presumably to his guild behind him. They all raised their respective weapons, swords, spears, axes, you name it. As fast as a arrow, I raised my katana back up, so did Chi, Kota, Inori and Yami. We stared briefly between each other and... Kirito interrupted us, well not really, he just walked forward, ignoring us.

Kirito told Klein, "Klein, stop tailing me". When suddenly, around fifty other players, some of them orange, appeared behind us. They were the guild called the Army.

Klein exclaimed, "Kirito, it looks like your not the only one that got followed".

I replied to Klein, "So Klein is it? Mind if you don't er, try to capture me for the 'army' and get paid for it?" Yeah, I was wanted by the Army, because I would often make them look like fools.

He nodded a few times, and chuckled, "Sure, as long as you don't get in my way. Kirito! We'll hold them back! You take the boss, the Army will do anything for a rare drop!" as his back fell towards mine, both of us holding katanas. Kirito looked back at us, nodded, and ran off to face the boss.

As the two parties, A.K.A. Klein's guild and my own guild had a truce, the Army charged us with their frontline as we also charged out and clashed with them.

* * *

><p><strong>4:42 PM<strong>** December 30th - Forest of Wandering - 35th Floor**

It's kind of sad how this battle ended. I'm tired now, two hours of constant fighting. Sure I gained a few things, even with a random loot box, still haven't opened it, it was under a tree. I was even being called a Nightmare by the Army, specifically the "White Nightmare", probably because I liked to dash in into multiple enemies and of the Coat of Snowdrop. Soon, when Klein and I were resting, soon Kirito could be seen in the distance. Looking even more depressed than ever.

I left first along with my guild, I didn't want to disturb him, and Klein stayed, before I left, I opened up my menu, went to the friends area, scrolled down the five names I had there and selected the "Add Friend" button and wrote "Klein" and left. He accepted.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Nothing to say much here.**

****Remember, leaving a review and favorite is nice and all, but don't feel pressured to do it.****


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